


Soft Epilogue, Or A New Beginning

by Friendlylycanthrope



Series: Let's Talk About It [29]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Epilogue, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, No dialogue no action, Post War, just exposition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:13:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25098958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Friendlylycanthrope/pseuds/Friendlylycanthrope
Summary: A summary of how the news spreads about the end of the war. What happens to Hordak, how the princesses mobilize, and what everyone starts doing now that the war is over. An epilogue to an epic journey that isn't actually over yet.Don't worry, this concludes the war, but not this fic. I shall continue to write of their hijinks, shenanigans, adventures, and more. This concludes Act II of "Let's Talk About It" as we now move into Act III: Post war life.
Relationships: Adora/Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra), Lonnie/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Series: Let's Talk About It [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714624
Comments: 7
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter 1

  
  


They were still talking about everything that happened with the portal when the day moon rose. Once they saw the morning light, they concluded their heart to heart to heart for a few hours of sleep before they were awoken in order to address the alliance. They were exhausted from the little amount of sleep they had gotten and at the incredible emotional labor of the night.

Glimmer met up with the princess alliance, then went to address her people, all the while Adora and Catra at her side. She told the alliance the news of the war being over, and the princesses had the duty of telling all their own kingdoms, just as Glimmer was to tell the people of Bright Moon. She was the princess who had ended the war, but she made sure that everyone knew she hadn’t done it alone. She had the help of Adora, the She-Ra, and Catra, the greatest strategist the world had ever seen. And the celebrations commenced.

They kicked themselves for not apprehending Hordak when they had the chance, who was now at large in Etheria with no tech, no army, no stronghold, and a barely functioning body. Nobody was able to find him, but at the same time, it was known that he was no threat. There was nowhere in Etheria he could hide. Everyone knew his face and what he had done, it was only a matter of time before he was captured. 

It wasn’t long before Scorpia and Catra had to leave on their rescue mission to the Crimson Waste. Adora and Glimmer tried to offer their help, but they insisted it was a super pal trio kind of mission. Lonnie was left in charge of Safety, and Catra learned from one look between Scorpia and Lonnie that there was something there. She teased Scorpia about it once they had left, and Scorpia, as expected and in typical Scorpia fashion, got all bashful and smitten when it was brought up. Catra was so happy for her, and happy beyond relief that she was able to move on from her one-sided love for Catra. Although, those two would always have something special. 

Their rescue of Entrapta would have gone much faster and smoother if it was an abandoned desert like they were all led to believe it was. But, turns out, the Crimson Waste was full of outlaws and ruffians, including most of what was left of Hordak’s army after the immigration, when they all realized they were on a sinking ship with Hordak and started to defect. It was exciting, and caused some bumps in their plan, but the super pal trio had each other’s backs as always and they were all able to return home to their respective duties eventually, to report about their findings and begin an age of exploration into the dangerous wastes. 

Entrapta was not surprised to find that Dryl was apprehensive of the turncoat princess on her long awaited return home. She had been with the horde for so long now, that it would take some readjusting for her to get re acclimated to her old lab. Her staff was hesitant to trust her. But she tried every day to prove herself worth that trust, and when they learned how long Entrapta had been working with the rebellion as a double agent, they trusted her a bit more easily. After all, she had been on Catra’s side ever since Catra joined Adora’s side when they started working together after the jungle incident. With Scorpia and Entrapta both secretly helping Catra for all those years, she had done more to help the rebellion than anyone had realized. 

Scorpia, on behalf of her people, decided to declare Safety its own kingdom with herself as their princess. Until now, they had been considered a province of Bright Moon under Princess Glimmer. Scorpia was extremely nervous about presenting her request to the Princess Alliance meeting, but drew confidence from her second in command and trusted friend Lonnie. Turns out, without her squad around to compete with her and without the cutthroat nature of the horde that forced them all into survival mode, she actually made a good leader. She was thoughtful, intelligent, and commanding. It was probably sometime around then that Scorpia and Lonnie started actually dating, though nobody asked. Scorpia loved tiny butch women, and Lonnie was with someone who could finally appreciate her. They complimented each other perfectly with overabundant ferocity and tenderness in equal amounts, and made a great team. 

Needless to say, their request was granted. Safety became the capital of the New Scorpion Kingdom, and also immediately became the smallest kingdom; bumping Dryl, the previous smallest kingdom, to second. Scorpia was a princess without a runestone, but Etheria had many of those without issue. After all, there were dozens or even hundreds of princesses at Princess Prom. 

Turns out, some of those ruffians in the Crimson Waste were scorpion people, citizens of the Old Scorpion Kingdom who remembered her old home at its peak, and its downfall to Hordak. Some of them made their way back to Safety to reclaim their ancestral home if only in title rather than location. Scorpia learned everything she could from them, about herself and her family, her history and her culture, and revered the few scorpion people who still existed on Etheria, as their numbers were dwindling, and valued their company.

As for the Fright Zone, it was abandoned for a long time after the war ended. It remained untouched, like a bad memory on the world, that none wanted to breach. It was a dark chasm of broken metal and a grim reminder of the years of suffering on both sides. 

Bow reached out to Entrapta. He still looked up to her as an engineer, and she was completely shocked that someone would want to stay in touch with her. It would have been nice, to maintain some friends now that the war was over and they didn't _need_ to keep communicating, but she certainly didn’t expect it. Yet they were able to communicate regularly about inventing, how to improve technology and infrastructure in Etheria, and eventually the topic of what to do with all the old horde tanks and bots came up. 

They tossed around many great ideas about what to do with the old horde materials and space, but the one that made the most logical sense to them and to everyone else was to repurpose it. Bow and Entrapta took many long trips into the Old Fright Zone, lasting for months where they would clean it up of waste in an effort to make it usable again. 

They eventually got a lot of help from those doing community service: those who were apprehended in the wastes after years of outrunning the law, and mainly a great deal of former horde soldiers. Perfuma and Mermista used their powers to bring some greenery and clean water back to the wasteland, trying to make it more livable. Together, they turned the Fright Zone into something entirely new: The Greater Etheria Defense Unit and University, or GEDUU. Try as Bow did to get the name to stick, most just called it The University.

The University served two main purposes:

One: As a university for all Etherians who wanted to learn more about technology or any other subject. Most of the infrastructure for a university was already there: medical bay, dining hall, even dormitories and classrooms. All they needed was enough people to run it. Professors, historians, and scientists from all over the world were brought in as teachers. Bow’s fathers came out of retirement to teach history, and most of Bow’s older siblings also came as teachers. They all couldn’t have been more proud of their boy Bow. 

It was slow work, taking years for it to actually get off the ground, but after a while, Etheria University was established as a cultural hub of learning. Bow and Entrapta ran it as Co-Deans, as well as teaching some tech classes themselves. Before long, the University was equipped to teach science, history, art, literature, women studies, political studies, economics, you name it. Although Science and Engineering was still always the school’s crown jewel.

The second purpose was a planetary defense stronghold. As they would learn, Hordak had gotten a message through to Horde Prime during the brief period that the portal was open for. 

Prime sent a message back while it was open. It was to let Hordak know his disappointment and embarrassment in his poor strategy of conquering the world. 

His message was a clear threat: He would not bother coming to Etheria. Not unless Hordak could actually prove himself worthy of Prime’s time and resources. And the only way to do that was to conquer Etheria, a task that seemed impossible given his defeat. 

He was still at large somewhere in the world, perhaps planning on winning Horde Prime’s favor, trying to prove himself. But he was not seen or heard from until the world forgot him, and assumed he had died off somewhere in his exile. 

Still, one thing remained clear: They could not let another ruler take over Etheria. They could not let another portal machine open. And they would keep an eye on the skies, looking out for any sign of an approaching alien ship. 

So that was the second purpose of the University: to look out for signs of Prime and, if necessary, accumulate the resources necessary to fight him off and protect their planet. 

Many of the scientists at the University worked in their free time to make telescopes, radios, and radars that would detect any incoming threats. As well as repurposing old weapons into a ground defense against aerial strike, should that day ever come. Hopefully it never would, but if it did, they would be ready. 

Entrapta and Bow were, as always, at the head of all these operations and oversaw all the progress. They knew when to exercise caution with new implementations, and when it was necessary to pull back to avoid being seen as an arms race. The last thing they wanted was to become a new global superpower when it came to the other princesses, and they made sure that their inventions would never be used on innocents again. Since it was close to the mountains of Dryl and Entrapta was running it, it was considered a new land extension of Dryl, bumping it from the second smallest kingdom to the third biggest, after Bright Moon and then the Kingdom of Snows. 

As for the black garnet, research was made on whether it was able to be moved to the New Scorpion Kingdom. It was determined to be firmly rooted to its place, however. They had many discussions with Scorpia about the runestone. It used to belong to her family, it was a precious artifact of her people. But Scorpia had mixed feelings about it. 

She had seen the Black Garnet be used for terrible destruction many times. It had been used on her, used on her friends. So she was hesitant to accept it, despite the encouragement from her new Scorpion citizens who were eager to reclaim the symbol of their home.

When she tried to forge a connection to it, she was unable to make contact with its power. Perhaps it was due to her own hesitation to have that sort of destructive power that prevented her from really bridging the two generation gap between her family and the Black Garnet. It seemed that for the time being, she was a perfectly capable leader without it, ruling over her New Scorpion Kingdom with Lonnie by her side and Entrapta and Catra as her best friends to help out. And, the Black Garnet remained at the University, gathering dust where Shadow Weaver had left it, a relic to add to the museum of artifacts for the historians on sight. 

Adora, Catra, and Glimmer all had some adjusting to get used to themselves as well. It seemed like the whole world was changing around them, and they were no different. The postwar world kept them busy too, along with all of their friends. 

Glimmer continued to host Princess Alliance meetings; but rather than discuss battle strategy, it was to catch up on the progress of all the major kingdoms and discuss new plans for the future. They talked about the economy, welfare, infrastructure. When a drought came into Plumeria, The Kingdom of Snows sent aid. When insurgent groups rose up to fill the power vacuum left by Hordak, they would team up and take care of it. When an especially hard harvest left people hungry, they all shared what they could to where it was needed. 

Glimmer spearheaded all these efforts, every inch the calm and assertive leader that her mother was. Angella herself remained in charge of the Office of Social Services, and there were always more children who needed to find homes that she was looking into. She directed hundreds of employees as the minister of Social Services, trying to find foster parents, couples interested in adopting, trying to track down the parents that all the misplaced children of the war had been separated from. Renee and her wife Ingrid were instrumental in this work, it wouldn’t have been possible without them. 

She-Ra was still needed at times. Now that the secret about the Crimson Waste was breached, that it was full of civilization and criminal gang wars, it was like the seal had been broken, and it all spilled out like leaving a refrigerator door open. Outlaws and bandits no longer felt they could continue hiding in the Waste, and brought their crimes to the rest of the world. Most of it was minor, but every now and then there would be a gang trying to fill the vacuum left by Hordak, and they would try to start making a claim in conquering Etheria. Rarely, a horde loyalist would try to rebuild Hordak's empire. She-Ra would respond, usually with the help of the Princesses, and resolve the issue. Adora herself was very busy, between helping with the Social Services, helping with the University, helping Scorpia set up her own kingdom, and taking enough time for herself and her two devoted girlfriends, she was running herself ragged as usual. Luckily she had two amazing girlfriends to remind her to take some time off, and help her unwind. 

Catra spent most of her days improving her woodworking. She visit Razz's hut, cleaned it up a bit. She missed her roommate from that time she was on her own. She found woodworking tools she could use, and sometimes escaped to the hut when she needed some quiet alone time. She spent a lot of time in Safety to hang out with Scorpia and Entrapta. She lived in Bright Moon with the same luxury as Glimmer and Adora, who she cared for more deeply with each passing day. Lately her main and only concern was tracking down Hordak. Even though he wasn’t a threat, she didn’t like the idea of him being at large. Even if he couldn’t hurt anyone, his ideas were dangerous. She kept an ear out for suspicious activity, and would sometimes investigate a potential sighting, but he was nowhere to be found. 

Glimmer was not the brash and brazen young kid who charged into danger anymore. She was assertive and collected, but she would still definitely throw herself at danger if she needed to. Her mother was there to guide her on her way to becoming a valiant leader, much beloved by her subjects. With her two girlfriends always with her, it wasn’t long before those subjects started to gossip rumors about how much they wished there would be a royal wedding, and Glimmer pretended to ignore them, as did her girlfriends. 

The three of them always made sure to make time for each other, enjoying a few dates here and there, and always slept together in bed. Renee’s main relationship advice was to never sleep apart if you were angry, as it would only make things worse. They followed that advice, and were able to overcome many challenges together. 

The war was over, but their lives had only just begun. Not just for Adora, Catra, and Glimmer, but for all of their friends who had helped them along the way. They were still young and kept busy with demanding work, sometimes intense fights to remind them of the old days. But the world felt brand new, and there was so much potential. They could carve out a career for themselves, continue to help the citizens of their world, and follow their hearts, wherever that may lead them. Even with the war over, their work was far from done. Many days it seemed like a dream come true. A better dream than any portal could pretend to give them. They didn’t want to wake up from this dream.

They kept moving forward every day, together. 

  
  



	2. And Yes, They Did Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I could swear I had posted this I am so sorry please take this ten years too late.

Glimmer sat in bed, her back on the headboard that was against the wall. Catra sat to the edge of the bed, elbows on her knees. And Adora was sitting on the window seat, looking outside at the darkness and looking at the sky. 

There had been a time, not so long ago, where Adora underwent an especially difficult training hologram with Light Hope, one that lasted so long and felt so real that when she did return, she wasn’t sure if she was still in the simulation or in the real world again. She was constantly staring at the sky, waiting for it to glitch, watching for any errors which would prove that this world was not hers. She had that same look in her eye again, the one not of distrust, but of anxiety, so sure that any moment her happiness could be ripped away again.

But not this time. She was sure of it this time. 

“I couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t save her.” Adora confessed in a whisper without lifting her eyes. 

“It wasn’t your fault, Adora.” Glimmer said. 

“I’m She-Ra. I save people. That’s what She-Ra does.”

“I don’t think that was it, ‘dora.” Catra added. The knot in her throat was hard to talk through. “I think that you couldn’t have stopped her no matter what… she wanted to do this. Not just to save us. But because.. I think she’s with Mara now.”

There was a pause in the conversation. Glimmer hardly knew Razz. She knew this was between Adora and Catra. 

“She always talked about meeting up with Mara when I was with her…” Catra continued sadly. “I always thought that she was just confused and old, and forgetting that she had…. Died? But…”

“But Mara closed the portal last time.” Adora concluded, nodding. “That’s why She-Ra went missing for a thousand years.”

“And now Razz is gone too…” Catra said. “But… maybe they’re together now. After all those centuries apart. They finally made it back.”

“I know she meant a lot to you two.” Glimmer spoke up. “Especially you Catra… she was like a grandma to you for over a year, she gave you a home. Everything that Bright Moon was for Adora, she was for you first, before you came here. In a way you were both each other’s only family for a while. And Adora, she was your mentor for your magic, more than Light Hope ever was.” She couldn’t help a bit of bitterness in her voice thinking of Light Hope. Her mentorship with Adora had ended on horrible terms, with Light Hope hurting Adora and even her friends in Bright Moon. To this day, they didn’t know if Adora ever returned her to the Crystal Castle or destroyed her operating crystal disk. But Razz was one of the first people Adora had met who could properly introduce her to the magic of Etheria. “She helped you both so much. But looking back, I wouldn’t change what happened.” They both looked at her with a sad sense of surprise, a quiet kind of curiosity. “Look I know, I get it. I can’t say that I understand what you’re going through but I wouldn’t change it. I can’t lose the two of you, either of you. And Razz made her own choice, we couldn’t take that from her. She chose to be with Mara. And she chose to let us be together and have a chance at a future. And I wouldn’t change that.”

“Maybe I can be okay with it.” Adora said with some restraint. “Maybe one day. But right now? It’s just so much. On top of everything else that happened, everything we saw, it’s just piling on all this guilt and hurt and sadness.” She leaned back in the window seat, leaning against the wall. She kept her legs bent up in front of her, but not protectively, just tiredly. Her elbows were on her knees and her hands were joined while she sighed and closed her eyes. She was so tired. It wasn’t Hordak’s torture, but the things they saw in the portal. What could have been. “I have so little connection to the past. It was always just Light Hope and Razz. And now that family is getting smaller and there’s nothing that I can do about it.”

Catra flopped backwards onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Glimmer ran her hands down her face to rub out the soreness that came with her tension. 

“You really care about us, huh Glimmer.” Catra droned. 

“Of course I do.” Glimmer said, perhaps a bit snappier than she had intended, feeling a bit insulted that Catra wouldn’t know that. “Why would you ever question that? I’m not losing you two and nothing is going to change that.”

“No, I get it.” Catra defended, raising her hands in surrender. “I get it. I wanted to pull out the sword but only if it was to save you two. You’re all I have.”

“Catra, what you said in there,” Adora looked over at her. “Do you really think you aren’t just as important as me? Or Glimmer? Just because we’re princesses? The world needs you too, Cat.”

“Well what can I say?” Catra defended, sitting up again to face Adora. “Without Shadow Weaver around, someone had to hate my guts. Might as well be me.”

“Catra,” Glimmer said sadly, leaning forward to reach out for the woman she loved. She gently ran a hand over Catra’s wild hair. “You are worth so much to us, so much more than you think.”

“Is that why you would have let the entirety of reality fall apart for me?” Catra said somewhat accusingly. She turned to face Glimmer with pleading eyes, an expression that she showed few people which translated to  _ please, listen _ . 

“What?” Adora asked. 

Catra sighed and looked at Glimmer, but realized that she wasn’t going to explain. So, Catra had to. 

“The reason that I was all corrupted in Eternia, when you healed me?” Catra said. “It’s because the void caught up to me when we were outrunning it trying to find you. But Glimmer pulled me out. She stayed behind to save me before she flew us out.”

“Oh thank goodness.” Adora sighed. She didn’t know what she would do if Catra had stopped existing, even temporarily. 

“No, not thank goodness,” Catra stood up, finding energy within her to be a bit angry as she looked between the two of them. “If it had gotten her too? There would have been nobody left to save you. We were the only people in existence who knew how to fix things, how to restore the  _ entire universe _ . And Glimmer risked it all, all of time and space for what,” She looked at Glimmer with tears in her eyes. “For me? You should have known the consequences.”

“Well maybe I did.” Glimmer said resolutely. “Maybe it was worth it.”

“Worth it? Glimmer please, is any relationship worth the destruction of the entire cosmos of existence?”

“So you would have done the same?” Glimmer challenged. Her glare met Catra half way, and they both softened. 

She couldn’t have. If it was reversed, Catra would have saved either of them too. 

Because she was going to take out the sword to save them. 

Any of them would have done the same. 

The realization settled in like a cold chill in the air, leaving them all uncomfortable and craving the comfort of a warm touch. But they all remained apart while the cold shock seized them. 

“We all would have taken the sword and sacrificed ourselves to save the other two.” Glimmer sounded defeated when she looked away. “No point denying it. How is it any different?”

“Maybe it isn’t.” Adora agreed. She stood up and walked over to the bed where she sat in between the two people she loved most. “But we can’t change what happened.”

The silence between them was crushing. There were so many questions still left. It was like they had to work their way through the events backwards so that they could address the most important things first, living a mixed up timeline almost like Razz had. 

“One thing that I want to know is,” Adora said eventually. “Where were you two? Before you came to Eternia? I was trying to figure it out, but in my version of a portal world, you two were with me. But I hadn’t actually seen you until you showed up.”

Catra and Glimmer shared an awkward knowing glance before looking away. Catra ran a hand down through her hair while Glimmer rubbed her neck as though guilty. 

“I was in the Fright Zone.” Catra started. “I was a successful dictator who ruled over the horde. But it wasn’t like it was in reality,” She quickly added as though Adora might think less of her. “There was no war. There were no princesses, no fighting, just running a huge mechanical empire.”

Adora leaned back on her hands and quirked a brow. 

“So, your coup?”

“I don’t know.” Catra shook her head. “It was like a dream in that… I knew all the details seemed normal, but I couldn’t explain what happened to get there.” The other two nodded in understanding. Adora looked to Glimmer for more answers. 

“My life was mostly the same.” She admit. “But… my dad was back.”

“Holy--Glimmer, that’s--” Adora rose to move towards the bed and Glimmer, knowing how hard it must have been. While Catra saw a bright future for herself, Glimmer was close to getting closure on a particularly painful chapter of her past. But she never got it. It was within her reach, and it slipped away. 

“I know.” Glimmer pouted, hugging her knees to herself. She felt a bitter sting of anger in her chest that she didn’t do more, that she didn’t do better with the time she had. “I should probably ask my mom if any of that was even really you know… like him. Or if it was just another made up fantasy that the portal made to keep me happy, telling me what I wanted to hear. I don’t even know if it was really him or not. Which I guess you could relate to.” She looked up at Adora and the truth in her words struck Adora in the chest and took her breath away. 

Her parents. Her family. Her home. 

Adora looked away again and had to sit down on the edge of the bed when her knees started shaking, nervously wringing her hands in her lap. 

“I don’t…. If it…. But they,” She kept struggling, trying and failing to make a coherent thought come out of her lips but she kept tripping over herself every time. A soft feeling grazed her working knuckles, and she noticed Catra was brushing her tail against her hands. She looked up at the culprit and found a blue and yellow eye soothing her into slowing down. Adora took a deep breath and tried again. 

“I have nothing to go off of like you two did, no memories or even old stories. So it would make sense if it was all just a fantasy out of my own imagination.” She explained. “I never thought that I had actually fantasized about it, but somehow the portal knew exactly what I wanted. Even though I worked so hard to build a life and a family here, it still perfectly guessed how I wish things had gone if I wasn’t taken as a baby and forced to become a soldier. But in reality? They probably don’t exist. At least not in this universe…”

“Look, I don’t want to rule over the Fright Zone. Or anything.” Catra comforted. “I used to, but not any more. There are more important things I have to worry about, things that actually make me happy, happier than any illusion of power would have done. And Glimmer, you had your dad back but you lost all of your friends that you met along the last few years. So, Adora… is that really what you wanted? The portal showed us all kinds of great things, but not the things we really want. And that’s each other.”

Adora took Catra’s hand and clasped it tightly. 

“I know where my real family is, and it's right here.” She agreed. “I don’t need answers about my past to know who I am because I already know, and it's thanks to you two, and Bow and Angella and Razz and the alliance and everyone else.” She took Glimmer’s hand just as strongly in her other hand. 

“So why does it feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming…” Glimmer said in anticipation. 

“I think we all know why.” Catra released Adora’s hand and stood up anxiously. She paced around the bed and combed her hair with her claws. “It’s not just your parents, is it? Its….. the rest of your family.” She didn’t want to say the word that would bring them all back to the most haunting part of their turmoil. 

Her children. 

Her own babies, eaten by a void between realities, that she could not see or save one last time. They all remembered anyway. The way that Adora wailed frantically as she fought against them to get closer to the sound of their voices. The wild mania in her eyes as her world shattered into oblivion. 

Adora hugged her knees to her chest and curled inwards on herself. Glimmer scooted forward more, and leaned her head on Adora’s hunched up shoulder as a soft show of support and comfort, knowing from years of experience with Adora’s anxiety and night terrors that full contact could be hard, overwhelming even. By now, the gesture was as much of a comfort to Glimmer as it was to Adora. 

“Do you want a family, Adora?” She asked gently. Adora didn’t respond at first, and Glimmer was worried that she hadn’t heard her if she was spiralling into a panic attack. But she did answer. 

“Yes.” She whispered. The sound was no more than that of a pin dropping, and yet seemed to drop a bombshell on the three of them. Glimmer rubbed Adora’s back while Catra crouched in front of them. 

“But I’m not allowed..” Adora confessed, lifting her head. Her eyes were stained with tears. 

“What do you mean not allowed?” Catra asked, her hand on Adora’s knee. Adora tried to wipe her tears with her sleeve, but made more of a mess of herself. 

“I’m She-Ra.” She whimpered. “I have to put my duty to Etheria first. It would be irresponsible of me to prioritize anything else. I have to be a good She-Ra, I have to do better.” She explained, trying to compose herself. Catra and Glimmer shared a glance, a look of hurt and permission. Catra started purring quietly, leaning forward into Adora. “My own desire isn’t as important as She-Ra’s job to protect Etheria.”

“Adora, babe,” Glimmer whispered. “You were Adora before you were ever She-Ra. And you can’t be a good She-Ra unless you take care of Adora first.” She reminded her, continuing her soft circles in Adora’s back. 

The way that Adora sometimes separated herself from She-Ra was concerning. There were times where she saw the two identities as just that, two separate people rather than one person. She would sometimes act like what She-Ra did had no connection to Adora, and when it came between choosing between the two, Adora always put She-Ra and her duty first. It was something that she had been working on, over the years, with help from Glimmer and her friends. But even if those urges to put the world above her own needs did shrink, they would never go away. Just like the part of Shadow Weaver that lived in Catra’s mind, the part of her that hated herself, it was practically a second habit. 

“How am I supposed to save the world and protect it when I couldn’t even save one person?” Adora sobbed quietly, as all cadets learned to do in their shared dorms. 

“Hey, Razz didn’t need any saving.” Catra reminded her softly. “Besides, how would She-Ra protect Etheria if you were trapped between dimensions?” 

“Adora, there may come a day where She-Ra won’t be needed any more.” Glimmer added hopefully. “Hordak is gone. The Fright Zone is abandoned, the war is over. You don’t have to sacrifice everything you have any more. The burden is for all of us to share. You are allowed to relax, to want things. And if what you want is a family then… we can figure something out in the future. We can talk about it.”

Catra was mostly certain that she didn’t want a family, even before the horrors she had just witnessed in the portal. Again, it was thanks to the Shadow Weaver in her head, reminding her of all the abuse she suffered as a child. What would she, a broken and hurting child, know about raising kids? She didn’t want to risk hurting them in the same ways that Shadow Weaver had tormented them. No, she had always assumed that kids weren’t in the cards for her. 

Glimmer knew that Adora wanted to live a simpler life. A life pastoral, far away from any war or conflict. It wasn’t something they talked about much, having kids. But at this point, they were due for that conversation since it seemed clear that they planned on spending the rest of their lives together. 

No matter what, it was clear that that sort of change in their lives would still be a ways off. They still had time to talk about it. 

“In your portal world… what were they like?” Catra found herself asking, against the Shadow Weaver’s better interest in her brain. She was curious about what that perfect scenario would look like to Adora. It was clear that she had spent time with those children, before Catra and Glimmer arrived. She would later chalk it up to a “morbid curiosity” that compelled her to be inquisitive about it. Despite the dread that told her she might not want to know, that it would make everything harder, the same instinct that told her to not look at them in the doorway. There was still a spark within her that compelled her to ask about it. Not just for Adora, for all three of them. 

Adora hesitated, wondering if it was wise to get into the details. But she didn’t want to forget. 

“There were three.” Adora hiccupped as her crying died down so that she could talk about it evenly. It felt strange, to use the past tense to refer to them. It was similar to a dream, where it felt like it had always been. Catra restarted her purring again, encouraging Adora to continue. 

“What were their names?” Glimmer asked. Perhaps it was her own morbid curiosity. The same instinct that had people looking at the wreckage of a terrible accident. But this felt nothing like an accident. It was something desired, something slow and warm. 

“The oldest was Micah.” Adora explained, shaking her head. Glimmer’s heart swelled at the sentiment, causing her to pause her slow circles in Adora’s back for a moment. 

“The middle was Mara.” Adora said, a fond smile creeping over her lips. She remembered that Mara was something of a handful. She couldn’t quite remember any specific instances, but felt like it was on the tip of her tongue. “And the youngest was still a baby… Hope.” 

“Do you hate us?” Catra asked, full of guilt. Her voice was getting closer to the breaking point as tears formed in her eyes. She would have fully understood if Adora had said yes. “For pulling you apart from your portal world the way we did?” 

But Adora shook her head. She reached out to Catra’s ear, rubbing gently. 

“No.” Adora said. “No…. It couldn’t have lasted.” She said in a sad, but understanding whisper. 

Another silence fell over them like a blanket of snow, muffling their thoughts and letting all their words sink in. Catra sat next to them on the bed again. They made an Adora sandwich as they all huddled together, needing nothing more to be said and only wanting for the comfort of each other nearby. The moon out the window showed that it was late in the night, perhaps even morning already in the wee hours before the Day Moon rose. Catra wrapped her tail around Adora and Glimmer and they watched time pass them by for the longest period of silence in their whole talk. 

They talked about what Micah was like. 

They talked about their memories of Razz. None of them could seem to find a single bad thing to say about her. Only warmth and joy. 

They talked about planning on saving Entrapta. Adora and Glimmer insisted on helping, but Catra insisted further that she and Scorpia had made promises, this was a Super Pal Trio thing. 

They talked about what they actually wanted. Turns out, none of it was in the portal. What they all wanted was something else that the false reality didn't show. And while they all had different ideas, and those ideas changed over time and even day to day, they all knew that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with each other and figure out the rest. 

The dawn of a new day rose on Etheria. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ends "ACT TWO" of my greater fanfic universe and begins ACT THREE: post war. 
> 
> Canon? I don't know her.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry, there will be more! Stay tuned, these crazy kids aren't done yet.


End file.
